Jindal staff meets with GOP lawmakers on remap

MELINDA DESLATTEThe Associated Press

Monday

Mar 28, 2011 at 7:20 PM

BATON ROUGE — Despite Gov. Bobby Jindal's push for bipartisanship at the start of the redistricting special session, two of his top advisers urged Republican state lawmakers today to back proposals that would preserve GOP House districts on the chopping block.

BATON ROUGE — Despite Gov. Bobby Jindal's push for bipartisanship at the start of the redistricting special session, two of his top advisers urged Republican state lawmakers today to back proposals that would preserve GOP House districts on the chopping block.

Jindal chief of staff Timmy Teepell and executive counsel Stephen Waguespack met in a closed-door meeting with the Republican legislative delegation, which was discussing the redrawing of political boundary lines before the House started a two-day debate over the redesign of its 105 districts. Lawmakers every 10 years redraw the boundaries to match up with census changes.

"They came down and visited with the delegation and expressed their concerns with certainly not diluting the Republican majority that we have," said Rep. Jane Smith, R-Bossier City, head of the House Republican caucus.

"They were just saying Republicans need to hang together," said House Speaker Jim Tucker, R-Terrytown.

Teepell said he told the GOP gathering that he supported two changes to the House remapping plan up for debate in the chamber. Both would keep Republicans from being forced into merged districts in which they would have to run against each other in the fall election to keep their seats.

On one proposal, Teepell weighed in on a disagreement over whether the House should have 29 majority black districts or 30 to comply with federal law designed to ensure against discrimination. Teepell supported 29 districts as enough to meet the federal standard, saying another majority black district could weaken minority voting strength in the districts surrounding it and lessen minority representation.

On a second issue, Teepell backed a proposal that would move two Democrats into a merged New Orleans district, rather than two Republicans.

"They didn't ask to come see the Democratic caucus, which was meeting across the hall at exactly the same time, and we gladly would have welcomed them," said Rep. John Bel Edwards, chairman of the caucus.

Edwards said the GOP meeting with Jindal advisers contradicts the governor's public pleas for bipartisanship.

"That's par for the course with this governor. His public and private statements are always in conflict," Edwards said.

When he spoke on the opening day of the special session, Jindal pushed for lawmakers to work across party lines and asked them not to act like those in Washington.

Republicans took the majority recently in both chambers for the first time since Reconstruction. But the Senate has a Democratic president, and the House has a Democratic chairman of the budget committee and chairman of the committee that is leading redistricting efforts.

"This is a practice that confounds those in Washington, D.C., and other state capitols where they recognize themselves by their party affiliation first, rather than as Americans first," the governor said in his March 20 speech.

Lawmakers are meeting in a three-week special session to redesign the boundary lines for districts in the state House, state Senate, U.S. House, Public Service Commission and the state education board. The House redesign would pit three sets of Republicans against each other in merged districts, and GOP lawmakers were hoping to make changes to reverse some of those plans.

Jindal had suggested he would steer clear of the redistricting discussion unless lawmakers sought his advice. Teepell said the administration inserted itself into the debate because lawmakers called with concerns over the weekend.

"We received a bunch of concerns and felt the need to get involved," he said.

Teepell called the complaints bipartisan, but when pressed, he acknowledged his discussions with lawmakers involved mainly Republicans and only one Democrat, Rep. Barbara Norton of Shreveport. Norton objects to creation of the 30th minority district, saying it could dilute black voting strength in her area and would cut up her district and jeopardize her re-election.

Teepell suggested Democratic leaders were targeting Norton and trying to ensure she couldn't retain her seat in the fall election.

Smith said Republican lawmakers invited the governor's advisers to attend the GOP meeting, which also included a Washington, D.C.-based lawyer who has been advising the Republican delegation on redistricting efforts.

"We are Republicans. We're going to try to maintain our Republican majority, and we're going to try to not have Republicans running against each other," Smith said.

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